Middle East ETF News Older than One Year
Nasdaq Dubai equities trading value rises 100% in first four months of 2010
May 16, 2010--Equities trading value on Nasdaq Dubai rose by 100% in the first four months of 2010 to $574m, compared to $286m in the same period of 2009.
Equities volumes rose by 2%, to 1 .26 billion shares from 1.23 billion.
Measured by percentage change, Nasdaq Dubai's equity value and volume figures were the best performing of any UAE stock exchange in the first four months of 2010 and in the month of April 2010, compared to the same periods in 2009.
Citigroup was the most active Member of the exchange by equities volume in the first four months of 2010, followed by Deutsche Bank and then HSBC. EFG Hermes was the most active regional Member during the period, followed by Shuaa Capital and then Arqaam Capital.
Equity derivatives contracts traded on Nasdaq Dubai rose 29% in the first four months of 2010 to 19,210, up 29% from 14,867 traded in the first four months of 2009.
In April 2010 equity derivatives trading reached 2,100 contracts, down 72% from 7,575 contracts in April 2009.
Nasdaq Dubai launched its equity derivatives market in November 2008. Equity futures are listed on 21 individual UAE companies and on the FTSE Nasdaq Dubai UAE 20 share index, which was designed as a hedging and investment mechanism for GCC and international investors.
The FTSE Nasdaq Dubai UAE 20 index fell in April 2010 to end the month at 1,900, 3.5% lower than at the end of March 2010 but 2.5% higher than at the start of the year.
Source: Nasdaq Dubai
Tasil climbs 0.03%
May 13, 2010--Saudi Arabia's Tadawul all Share Index (Tasil) edged up 0.03% today to 6,691. Gulf General enjoyed the biggest gains, rising by 9.54%, while Al-Ahlia dropped the most, by 9.93%.
Saudi Kayan was the stock most active by value and rose 0.72%.
Source: AME Info
DFM up 0.20%
May 13, 2010--The Dubai Financial Market (DFM) has risen by 0.20% to 1,718. Telecoms firm Du was the biggest gainer of the day rising 4.72% by the market's close. GGICO suffered the biggest loss, tumbling 5%.
The telecoms sector enjoyed the biggest gains, rising by 4.73%, while transportation dropped 0.51%.
Source: AME Info
Direct Foreign Investment / Survey
May 13, 2010--Direct foreign investment, except in real estate and housing sectors, stood in 2008 at 3, 27 percent of Syria's Gross Domestic Product, according to a survey conducted by Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), in collaboration with Syria's Investment Commission (SIC), and the United Nations Developmental Program (UNDP).
According to the survey, most of the investment projects were in the governorates of Damascus (33, 7 %), Aleppo (18, 5 %), and Damascus Countryside (16, 3 %). Processing Industries came first as far as number of investment projects (41 %).
Syrian investors came first as far as the nationality of investors (32, 8 %), followed by Jordanians (8,8 %), Iraqis (7, 6 %) and Saudis (7,1 %).
The biggest capital according to investors' nationality, after the Syrians, was for Kuwaitis, British, and then for Canadians.
The value of direct foreign investment stood at / 75022338 / SYP, for 140 companies included in the survey. (1 US Dollar equivalent to about 46 SYP). / 229152929000/ SYP is the amount of direct foreign investment, the highest amount of which invested in communications sector (85 %).
The value of investment shares according to economic activities were as follows: communications sector: (25, 98 %), finance brokers (17, 27 %), electricity supplies (11, 28 %), extracting industries (6,98 %), hotels and restaurants (5, 88 %).
Direct foreign investment shares according to industrial classification were distributed as: (29, 28 %) in communications sector, (19,42 %) in banking sector, and (10,97 % ) in insurance sector.
13494 foreign and domestic workers work in investment projects; of whom the foreign ones are / 300/ with a percent of 2, 22.
Food industry projects realized the biggest exports volume with a percentage of (24, 77). Oil companies registered the biggest imports volume with a percentage of 67 of the total imports volume.
Al-Ibrahim
Source: SANA
Proposed change to OQD final day daily settlement window length
May 12, 2010--This Consultation Paper has been issued to provide market participants with an opportunity to comment on proposed changes to the final settlement period.
Application of the Consultation Paper
Consultation Paper 10-003 is directed primarily at DME Members/Customers and/or prospective DME Members/Customers. DME also welcomes any comments from any organisation which represents groups of such users or prospective users.
Proposed change
In response to feedback from market participants, the DME is considering the reduction of the length of the final day daily OQD settlement window, from thirty (30) minutes to five (5) minutes, to put it in line with non-final day daily settlement procedures.
Please note: All references to the time are expressed on a 24-hour clock and refer to the local times in Dubai "DST" and Singapore "SGT".
Currently, the final trading day of the month has a thirty (30) minute daily settlement window from 12:00 – 12:30 DST (16:00 – 16:30 SGT) as opposed to all other trading days which have a five (5) minute daily settlement window from 12:25 – 12:30 DST (16:25 – 16:30 SGT). The proposed change would lead to the daily OQD settlement window for all trading days being five (5) minutes long, from 12:25 – 12:30 DST (16:25 – 16:30 SGT).
How to provide comments
The deadline for providing comments on the proposals in this Consultation Paper is twelve (12) calendar days from the date of this Consultation Paper. For the avoidance of doubt, all comments must be received by the Exchange on or before 24th May 2010 at 18:00 DST (22:00 SGT). All comments on the proposed changes should be addressed to:
Mohammed Hussein Ismail,
Director Strategy & Business Development
Dubai Mercantile Exchange
P.O. Box 66500, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
mohammed.ismail@dubaimerc.com
Source: Dubai Mercantile Exchange Limited ("DME"),
Currency futures drive 9% growth in DGCX April volume
Total April volume reached 107,641 contracts, a rise of 9% on last year
YTD volume rises 94% to 602,700 contracts on the back of higher currency and gold
futures trading
May 12, 2010--The Dubai Gold & Commodities Exchange today announced that 107,641
contracts were recorded in April, a 9% increase on the same period last year and valued at US
$6.12 billion.
The sustained growth in currency futures led trading activity in April with 67,542 contracts recorded, a year?on?year increase of 168%, reflecting the increased interest in forex trading in the region.
April 2010 volume in Euro/Dollar futures rose by 71% to 23,656 contracts, while Sterling/Dollar futures were 229% higher at 23,285 contracts. Indian Rupee/Dollar and Yen/Dollar futures recorded increases of 170% and 2031%, with 10,285 and 10,316 contracts traded respectively.
Volume for Gold and WTI crude oil futures, at 31,037 contracts and 6,570 contracts respectively, declined compared with the same period last year.
Speaking on the uptrend in trading, Eric Hasham, Chief Executive Officer, DGCX, said, “We are seeing increased interest in currency futures. In response to the increased demand and feedback from members, the Exchange has decided to widen its forex offering, which will enable participants to gain exposure to the world’s most traded currencies.” In the January?April period, the Exchange achieved an impressive volume growth of 94%, to reach a YTD volume of 602,700 contracts. Valued at US $35.7 billion, the year?to?date volume was largely driven by currency and gold futures. While YTD gold futures volume rose 51%, currencies saw considerable across?the?board growth, with Euro/Dollar and Sterling/Dollar futures up 46% and 393% respectively. The increases in Indian Rupee/Dollar and Yen/Dollar futures were 276% and 1789%. Overall, DGCX currency futures have recorded YTD volume of 429,302 contracts, an increase of 133% on last year.
The Exchange is expanding its range of currency products, launching Australian Dollar/US Dollar, Canadian Dollar/US Dollar and Swiss Franc/US Dollar on June 15, 2010. DGCX will be attending and speaking at the 6th Middle East Forex Expo in Beirut, Lebanon on May 20?21, 2010.
Source: DGCX
Inflation rises to 4.9% in Jordan
May 12, 2010--Figures by Jordan's department of statistics indicate the kingdom's annual inflation rose 4.9% year-on-year in April compared to the same period last year, Reuters has reported.
April consumer price index rose 0.04% compared to March, on the back of a rise in some major food components of the index. Inflation in the first quarter of the year rose to 4.6%, helped by rising energy costs, the data showed.
Source: AME Info
Although growing in global value, sukuk still lack liquidity
May 11,2010--The global volume of sukuk crossed the symbolic level of $100bn in 2009, but will banks be able to raise Islamic Bonds at common sense levels? While the risk of defaults remains, the possibilities for a global sukuk "currency" are taking shape.
Global Islamic bond issuances last year more than doubled to $31bn compared to 2008. On March 7, Saudi real estate giant Dar Al-Arkan paid back a $600m sukuk. National Bank of Abu Dhabi, the largest bank in the oil-rich emirates, also sold a $750m five-year sukuk in March.
Source: AME Info
Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange calls for operational consolidation between markets in region
May 10, 2010--Operational consolidation between the region's stock exchanges including the creation of investable products with common themes and the creation of a single central depository in the form of a virtual central depository through the deployment of information technology and the synchronization of account handling and collateral management systems can be the best answer to the markets fragmentation issue, according to Elie Ghanem, Head of Market and Product Development Department (MPD) at Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX).
Ghanem gave these remarks today at the TradeTech Middle East Summit, taking place in Dubai on May 10-11, 2010, with more than 40 speakers representing 15 countries in discussing a wide range of issues including the challenges of low liquidity levels, regulatory issues, coordination, transparency and the methods to improve trading and trading technologies in the Middle East markets.
Source: AME Info
Egypt economic growth accelerates
May 11, 2010--Egyptian economic development minister, Osman Mohamed Osman has said that economic growth accelerated to 5.8% in the first three months of 2010
It is the fastest pace in almost two years, Reuters has reported.
Source: AME Info
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